ITANAGAR, July 25 ? A 12-member Central team headed by Joint Secretary of the home department K Jain will arrive here next week to assess the damage caused by the current floods in Arunachal Pradesh, reports PTI.
State?s Relief Commissioner M K Parida told PTI that the team comprising senior officers of different Central ministries would tour the flood-affected districts of the state for a week.
Meanwhile, the flood situation in the state has improved following let-up in rainfall for the last three days. However, six of the seven flood-affected districts still remained cut off and there was no surface communication to these districts.
He said flood of this magnitude was not witnessed in the last 30 years and for the first time almost all rivers changed their courses due to flash floods and entered townships like Pasighat (East Siang), Seijosa (East Kameng), Tezu (Lohit) and Roing (Lower Dibang Valley) .
Parida said besides loss of 11 lives, the total damage in terms of roads, bridges, buildings, agricultural land and produce was estimated at Rs 500 crore and the state government has asked the Centre to provide Rs 200 crore to deal with the situation.
He said the people on their own were repairing embankments, roads without waiting for government help in the traditional spirit of the land and government has pressed two helicopters which are airdropping 20 tonnes of rations every day for nearly 50,000 people marooned in Mebo (East Siang), Paglam and Dambuk (Lower Dibang Valley), Hayuliang (Anjaw), Mahadevpur (Lohit) and some other places.
To check recurring erosion by the turbulent Tezu Nallah, three elephants, one belonging to the forest department were used by the local people to build a spur. The elephants were used mainly to clear debris and logs and stacking them on the bank for five days.
To prevent epidemics, mobile medical teams are distributing chlorine tablets and special medical camps have been set up.